August 17, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries will redeploy at-sea monitors and other observers aboard Northeast fishing vessels today for the first time since March despite continued health and safety concerns from fishing stakeholders.
The federal fisheries manager first excused the vessels from carrying all observers with a March 20 waiver that it extended six times because of pandemic-related health and safety concerns.
During a Wednesday webinar, as NOAA Fisheries officials discussed how they hope to complete the deployment safely, it became clear there would be no seventh extension despite the tenacity of the pandemic.
It was also clear that the path toward redeployment still has some murky stretches, which NOAA officials quickly conceded.
“There are a lot of unknowns,” said Katherine McArdle, branch chief for the agency’s Fisheries Sampling Branch. “We’re going into this with a very sensitive and gentle manner.”